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Construction Pitfalls: Ways to Streamline Operational Costs

It&rsquo;s not hard to imagine problems on a construction site. Hoodlums break in and make off with a $100,000 valve that was imported from South Korea.&nbsp; An excavation crew uncovers an underground spring when digging the foundation of a new condo. Or maybe a crane topples over.

Thu., Nov. 22, 2012

It’s not hard to imagine problems on a construction site. Hoodlums break in and make off with a $100,000 valve that was imported from South Korea. An excavation crew uncovers an underground spring when digging the foundation of a new condo. Or maybe a crane topples over.

Construction projects are complex enterprises. They often involve different businesses to carry out design, site management, skilled labour and more. But everyone has the same objective: complete the project on schedule, within the estimated price range. So here are some ways to streamline operational costs and make sure that happens:

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Play nice

The old playground adage “play nice” is still applies in the concrete jungles that are construction sites.

When crews work solely toward their own interests, inefficiencies often arise, says Carl Haas, Research Chair in Construction and Management of Sustainable Infrastructure at the University of Waterloo. For example, a lazy team of carpenters building the frame of a house might leave a mess, which drywallers will then have to clean, taking up valuable time before a project can continue.

In order to avoid such situations, it helps to make sure everyone has a stake in the project’s overall success, says Haas. He suggested contractors align their interests by sharing profits, pay for any collective losses, and engage in teambuilding activities.

“It’s about making sure all the stakeholders in the project have the same objectives,” he says.

Be smart and flexible when managing materials

Many construction inefficiencies result from the management of materials — things like steel pipes, ventilation equipment, and bricks and mortar. One of the biggest problems, says Haas, is that items are simply easy to lose. But the use of electronically-tracked identification tags can reduce this issue.

“You can have crews spend a whole morning looking for that kind of stuff,” he says. “(With identification tags), you can actually find that stuff right away, and even more than that, you don’t lose really important items.”

Also, during construction, any number of unforeseen circumstances can arise, says Stuart Smith Jr., vice president of business development at DPI Construction, a Toronto-based construction management firm.

If, he says, light fixtures don't arrive on time, crews must be flexible enough to work on something else instead to avoid wasting man hours.

“It comes back to managing the schedule in a way that you can be adaptable to changing conditions,” he says.

Plan, plan and plan again

Nothing can save more time and money than solid front-end planning.

“We really advocate a pre-construction process that is focused on up-front planning,” says Smith Jr. “Once you’ve got a realistic plan, and that plan is communicated, it’s much easier to execute.”

Haas suggests following the Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI), which scores preparedness based on the detail of one’s project design. He says the managers of new projects should work with checklists to make sure they've accounted for the potential problems that can arise from environmental permits, local labour markets and surveys of construction sites.

“Believe it or not, a lot of people don’t do it thoroughly. They miss big chunks of their planning, and the project is badly delayed as a result,” says Haas. “That’s why you need a checklist.”

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